World’s largest EV battery maker set to cut costs in half by mid 2024

According to a recent report from CnEVPost,  Chinese battery storage maker CATL – the world’s biggest – is set to reduce the cost per kWh of its lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells by a stunning 50 per cent by mid 2024, paving the way for lower cost electric cars.

The 173-Ah VDA-spec square cells (148 mm x 26.5 mm x 91 mm) can be fully charged in less than 3o mins and will be sold to several EV manufacturers for an average of RMB 400/kWh (or $US56.47/kWh), according to the report.

The CnEVPost article says the average price of square LFP battery cells in mid 2023 was around RMB 800 to RMB 900 per kWh. This means the price of an average 60 kWh battery pack will have dropped from $US6,776.00 to just $3,388.00 in just 12 months, saving EV manufacturers over $3,000 per vehicle.

According to the article, vice president of Leapmotor Cao Li, who currently purchases the cells from CATL for RMB 500/kWh, said he believes the price could drop further to RMB 320/kWh.

Battery prices following Seba’s prediction from 10 years ago

Earlier this week, technology researcher and futurist Tony Seba posted on twitter that the 2024 battery price curve was scarily close to a prediction he made ten years ago.

“In my 2014 book #CleanDisruption, I predicted that Li-ion #batteries would reach $50/kWh by 2027.” said Seba on Twitter.

“That sounded insane to the linear mainstream but it looks like China may reach that number sooner.”